Crossing Paths
by Tokyo Kitty
Summary: Once again I crossed paths with Delita–this time in the port city of Warjilis. The words he spoke weighed upon my mind: “Noble endeavors do not always reach the end that we desire.” You have taught me more of that than I would ever have wagered. Deli/Ramz


Crossing Paths

Disclaimer: I do not own Tactics or any of the characters. Meh. 'Course, I'd pay all of the gil I could make in a lifetime to own Ramza...

A/N: Hooray for breaking my way into yet another fandom! I've been playing the PSP re-release of Tactics and it's amazing! I liked the original on play station but the new one...Aw man, I still can't get past the British accents in the animated cutscenes. Anyway, this story is inspired by the wonderful art of kfour on y!gallery. Thank you for furthering my fantasies and giving me a direction to channel this energy through. Also for the sake of this fic, the "columns" in the background in the port city Warjilis are now aqueducts to keep in congruency with the picture this spawned from as well as for my own greedy convenience.

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_Once again I crossed paths with Delita – this time in the port city of Warjilis. He advised me not to concern myself any further with the princess or the Zodiac Stones, suggesting that some great and powerful will was fanning the flames of this conflict. The words he spoke weighed upon my mind: "Noble endeavors do not always reach the end that we desire."_

_You have taught me more of that than I would ever have wagered._

The tide crashed against the stone wharf loudly, but all Ramza could hear were Delita's words echoing in his mind.

"_I simply swim against it. Nothing more."_

Even with the aid of Delita's explanation Ramza tangled with the meaning of those words. He had never spoken before of unseen forces or this current as the swordsman had called it. Lost so much inside his own thoughts, Ramza nearly missed Delita's words.

"We'll meet again-" He gave a wry smile, "I should hope."

Ramza face contorted into a look of confusion at Delita's tone. He was about to inquire again as to Delita's meaning, but the other turned on his heels, long cape getting caught up in the balmy, salty sea breeze for a moment before falling back around Delita's retreating form. The blonde watched the other leave, beginning to believe that Delita spoke in riddles just to thwart him. Ramza shook off his bewilderment, and resolutely rushed to catch up again with Delita, calling his name.

He finally caught him under the stone arches of Wargilis's massive aqueducts. The sound of his feet hitting the cobblestones echoed in the passageway. Delita finally stopped walking, not bothering to turn around.

Ramza moved around him to block his way, panting lightly. "Why do you move to leave almost as soon as you have arrived? How long has it been since I have seen you last?" Ramza asked meeting Delita's blank stare with an unwavering one of his own.

"I did not think you needed my presence so much, have you not new companions?" Delita quipped.

"That is not the issue of matter, Delita. Why have you turned away from me and what we used to be?" Ramza pressured and when Delita diverted his gaze to the ground, the blonde placed a hand on the other's shoulder, demanding his attention.

"Do you mean as friends, Ramza or something more...base?" Delita's retort struck silence into Ramza with the force of a physical blow from a sword. Ramza's gloved hand dropped from Delita's shoulder and now he diverted his gaze, opting to stare at his boots.

Delita continued, "What is past is past Ramza, you should try not to confuse it with matters of the present."

"Do not patronize me so." Ramza's voice was quiet and the swordsman could hear it crack just slightly. "I did not think you such a betrayer that you would lie even to your own inclinations only yet one year past."

"Ramza, I did not intend-"

"Do not play the japer. That you would mean not to wound me with your cold words or icy stare is but a falsity."

"Forgive me this transgression, Ramza. Mayhap I have taken the wrong approach to

this-"

"Yes, by chance you have!" Ramza interjected flying into what was beginning to look like a fit of rage.

Delita placed his hands on Ramza's shoulders quieting him. The blonde swordsman looked up at him, Delita having a few inches on him in height, looking more than a little furious. Swiftly, Delita leaned to place a kiss on those vengeful lips that would otherwise continue the quarrel.

When the kiss ended Ramza pulled back looking distrustful. "What is your intent by these actions?"

"Mayhap it is wrong to set all things past in a distant place to burn." Delita responded eloquently, taking a step again closer to Ramza. The blonde digested these words before moving to stand on his toes to kiss Delita back.

Kissing Delita again seemed to draw Ramza back to what now felt like a past life instead of simply a cycle and a half of the seasons. They had stayed up late into the night, that eve, talking of things sad and happy and then suddenly Delita was kissing him. It had happened nearly as suddenly as it was with this day in broad daylight.

Ramza exhaled quickly, the tongue that had before so swiftly lashed against him now massaged his lips to part in gentle insistence. He acquiesced, and Delita took another step into Ramza, forcing the swordsman to stumble back another step until hitting the surprisingly cool stone of the aqueduct. Delita's hands settled on Ramza's hips pulling him tightly into his own body. There was a quiet clank of armor shifting as Delita removed his metal gauntlets and tossing them to the ground.

His now bare hands devoured the textures that clothed Ramza just as he pressed his lips harder against the blonde's own. Ramza groaned into their kiss as Delita's hands finally found purchase on his hips, massaging through the supple suede of Ramza's pants. He gained a new energy at Delita's actions and encircled his arms around Delita's waist which had prior to this been hanging uselessly at his sides. He took control of the kiss, fighting Delita's tongue with his own before the brunette finally relented, opting more to focus on relieving Ramza of his own gauntlets as well.

They hit the ground with a louder crash than he had expected and Ramza opened his eyes which he hadn't realized were closed before and looked down the corridor to see if anyone had heard. No one came and Ramza found himself thankful for the heat of high noon driving off most of the citizens from the streets.

Ramza's distraction had caused him to break the kiss and Delita had now moved to nip lightly at his ear causing Ramza to bite his lower lip to keep from moaning too loudly. He could feel himself slipping down the wall slightly as the heat of their actions began to affect him. Pushing one leg in between Delita's he succeeded in gaining more support and in the process bumped his thigh against the brunette's groin. Delita groaned breathily against Ramza's neck which in turn sent tendrils of pleasure shooting through Ramza's system.

He murmured something incoherent into Ramza's neck and caused the blonde to shudder. Even without knowing what it was Delita had said, the swordsman's voice had taken on a deeper, silkier tone and the sound of the other's voice made Ramza want him all the more. Delita pushed Ramza harder against the wall, wedging a leg between the blonde's and pushing the same way Ramza had unto him.

Ramza moaned loudly bringing a hand to his mouth to stifle the sound as Delita did it again and again. A permanent blush had settled on his face; between the heat of midday and the fervor of their exertions it felt all too uncomfortable to be wearing this much clothing and armor. Delita shifted, their hips coming together in full contact as he continued pushing against Ramza who in return slid his leg back between Delita's to effectively push back.

Somehow through all of this, Delita gained enough presence of mind to reattach his lips to Ramza's neck. Ramza bit down hard on his thumb to suppress a cry; one hand threading through Delita's slicked back hair in encouragement, the other tangling uselessly in the cloak that hung around the swordsman's shoulders. One of Delita's own hands migrated from its previous position in the small of the blonde's back down to the smooth curvature of Ramza's bottom so perfectly encased in tight pants. He pulled Ramza against himself with each thrust of his own forward causing Ramza to breathily moan his name.

The hand in his hair tightened and Ramza began saying his name repeatedly in an insistent manner. Delita stopped moving and stood up more to whisper into Ramza's ear. "Is something troubling you, Ramza?"

Ramza tried to clear his muddled mind but Delita's soft whisper didn't help any. "I beseech you, is there no better setting for this tryst?"

"I've heard there is an inn not far from here." Delita began pulling back a bit from Ramza to speak in a normal tone. "But what of your-"

"Ramza!! Where have you gone off to! We must make haste to Lionel!" A voice called from away near the wharf.

"Fie, and there would be said companions. How irony does grip me much like a lover." He quipped at Delita who had all but pulled away to the other side of the aqueduct. He had pulled on one of his gauntlets and was now at a run down the corridor out into the town proper. "Delita! What of your other gauntlet?" Ramza asked down the pathway holding up the forgotten one to the brunette.

"There is no time. Come alone to the tavern tonight with it if you would be so inclined in your generosity!" He called back disappearing around the corner just before Mustadio rounded the corner at the opposite end of the aqueduct.

"How now, Ramza, what are you doing in this dank little corner." He looked from Ramza to the boy's gauntlets lying on the ground to the unmatching one in his hand. "You look flushed." He added at length.

" 'Tis nothing. I am unused to the heat of this midday sun of the south. I fear I became a little lightheaded and retreated to the shade."

"Very well, shall we continue on to Lionel Castle? The others wait for us o'er yonder at the gate." Mustadio pointed towards the center of the town away from the sea and port.

"In truth I would wish to but stay the night." Ramza said and at Mustadio's concerned expression he elaborated. "I worry for Agrias and the Princess's safety as well, but a night's rest may do some good as the going to attack the castle will likely be challenging."

Mustadio nodded in affirmation. "A rational concern indeed. Very good, I shall go alert our other companions that we mean not to leave until tomorrow."

"My thanks, Mustadio." Ramza nodded, at long last picking his gauntlets up off the cobblestones and putting them back on.

Mustadio was about to leave in the direction of the town proper when a though hit him. "A question, if I may; whose gauntlet is that which you hold?"

Ramza had feared this question but responded quickly holding that the truth was more plausible than any falsehood. " 'Tis a friend's. I ran into him at the wharf. It would seem he forgot it."

"So it would." Mustadio responded agreeably. "Meet you anon at the inn?" He inquired taking a step towards the end of the aqueduct.

"Aye, I shall." Ramza nodded and watched Mustadio trot off towards the gates to alert the others of the change in plans.

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He waited that evening at the inn late into hours for Delita to come. He waited long past when Mustadio had sauntered off half inebriated back to their rooms in the inn and past when all of the others tired of their gags and japes and retired to bed as well. Sitting there, toying with a drink he'd barely touched all night Ramza questioned if any of what had transpired between he and Delita had truly happened.

Or perchance it was quite simply that Delita didn't dare to see him again for something so trivial as a missing gauntlet.

_Saint Ajora knows,_ Ramza thought cynically, _that would be O so fitting of him._

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A/N: :sigh: That was lots of fun. Although I was sad to find that there are lieraly no other stories for this pairing. Oh well, I've always wanted to be a pioneer of sorts. Nah, maybe more of a pirate! Anyway, pirates aside, I hope the old English was okay. I pulled everything I learned about Shakespeare in High School to do this and hopefully it sounds plausible. I wanted to do this old English so bad when I saw the dialogue was redone in the re-release. Well, if nothing else I can at least still write porn...lol...I hope to write the prequel to this fic that was hinted at by Ramza. It would be so much fun to write these two again. They have so much delightful baggage. Of course...everyone in Tactics has a ton of emotional baggage...


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